30th of September

St Jerome of Aquileia, doctor of the church, 420. St Gregory, apostle of Armenia, and bishop, beginning of the 4th century.

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Born. – Euuripides, tragic dramatist, 480 B.C., Salamis; Cneius Pompeius, Magnus (Pompey the Great), 106 B.C.; Jacques Necker, financier to Louis XVI., 1734, Geneva. 

Died. – St Jerome of Aquileia, father of the church, 420; Emperor Rodolph I., 1291; Isabella of Bavaria, queen of Charles VI. of France, 1435, Paris; John Reinhold Patkul, Livonian statesman, broken on the wheel, 1707; Auguste Comte, philosophical writer, 1857, Paris.

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On this Day in Other Sources.

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Among the witnesses to that charter is a person styled Gillecolm Marescald. A few years later (before 1189) the king granted to Earl Gilbert, Maddyrnin (Madderty), with all its pertinents, and with all feudal privileges and jurisdictions, to be held for half a knight’s service – but under a remarkable condition – “that no part of the land should ever be sold to Gillecolm Marescall, or his heirs, or any one of his race, seeing the said Gillecolm forfeited that land for felony done against the king, in that he rendered up the king’s castle of HERYN feloniously, and afterwards wickedly and traitorously went over to his mortal enemies, and stood with them against the king, to do him hurt to his power.” Who this traitor was, who had betrayed the king’s castle of Earn, and joined the rebels, it may be impossible to ascertain. Yet the time suits remarkably with the adventures of that “Gillecolmus archityrannus et latronum princeps” who kept all Lothian in fear, slew certain nobles, and spoiled their lands, and was at length defeated and slain by Rolland of Galloway, acting as the king’s lieutenant, on the 30th of September 1185 The story is told by John of Fordun.¹ It must be remembered, however, that the name of Gillecolm (servant of Columba) was very common. 

– Sketches, pp.204-219.

¹  Lib. VIII. c. xxxix. The conditions quoted above seem to imply that Gillecolm’s lineage was of some note. A charter of David I., of the year 1136, is witnessed by Malodeni Marescal, by Earl Malis of Strathearn, and many others. – Regist. Glasg. p. 9. This may have been the father of the traitor Gillecolm; but it is unsafe to rely on the affix of Marescal as being a hereditary and steady surname. For those who are curious in such inquiries it may be allowed to conjecture that the third generation of the sept is recognised in two Scotch pirates, “William of Mariscal” and “Robert of Mariscal,” who about the year 1237 plundered the English traders between Bristol and the Irish ports of Dublin and Drogheda, and for whose apprehension the English king ordered two galleys and a ship to be equipped by the port of Sandwich, and the other ports on the Sussex coast. – Illustr. of Sc. Hist. pp. 29, 30.

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This same year [1298], Sir William Wallace, the Protector, besieged the castle of Dundee in Angus, and took the same, the last of September, and put all the English therein to the sword;.. 

– Historical Works, pp.77-88.

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More than half a century later, when the old Grahams had left Dalkeith, and been succeeded by another race still more powerful and no less friendly neighbours to Newbattle, Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith made a will on the 30th September 1390, in which, commending his soul to God and the Blessed Virgin and All Saints, he ordered his body to be buried in the monastery of St. Mary of Neubotle, beside his late “companion,”¹ Agnes of Dunbar, his first wife. At the same time, he bequeathed to the Abbey a “nowche,” or jewel, of St. John, worth forty marks, or its value, and in addition, £23, 6s. 8d., for the building of the church and wages of the masons employed upon it. For the service of the monks’ refectory he gave twelve silver dishes, weighing eighteen pounds, six shillings sterling, enjoining his heirs to see that they should not be abstracted from the use of the refectory or sold. He left £10 to the monks to pray for his soul, and £26, 13s. 4d. for an offering, and lights and other necessaries for his funeral.²

– Sketches, pp.125-144.

¹  Socie mee.

²  Bannatyne Miscellany, II. Sir James Douglas made a subsequent testament.., and in it, while he bequeaths the same sums to the monastery, he no longer appropriates a part to the building of the church, or the payment of the workmen. Perhaps the rebuilding of the Abbey church had been completed in the meantime. – Ibid.

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It was, at the end of September 1566, when Darnley behaved so absurdly, at Holyrood-house, that Murray, and Maitland, condemned him to the bowstring. The long exposition of the Privy Council to the Queen-mother of France, before mentioned, is a proof of this resolution. Murray, with a view to that object, drew Bothwell into their concert, before he set out for Liddisdale. Maitland gave notice to Morton, who then was expatriated, in the north of England; and who was assured, that his own relief was interwoven, in the success of their projected purpose. Now, it must always be remembered, that no plot could have been entered into, in Scotland, during that age, without the assent of Murray, so superior was his influence and power: Nor, could Maitland have written, on such a topick, to Morton, without Murray’s knowledge. It was the practice of the Scotish statesmen of that period, whenever they looked forward to some danger, which might require the protection of Secretary Cecil, to write him letters of acknowledgment, for the past, with a view to the future. But, the whole detail of the plot was not finally settled till the Queen having refused, to be divorced, from Darnley, when proposed by Maitland, and urged by Bothwell, in presence of Murray, was included, as one of the victims of their villainy. The series of the facts, as they came out, in the progress of this murderous plot, from its conception, till its consummation, by the Queen’s dethronement, are the best proofs of the existence, and end of the plot, for the ruin of the King, and Queen, by the murder of the one, and the expulsion of the other. 

– Life of Mary, pp.136-151.

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Abroad, [Murray] seems to have had no business; but, at home, he had much business, critical, as the moment was; and speedily as the Parliament was to meet. Every circumstance, which is connected with Murray, from the 30th of September [1566], evinces, that he was the head of the conspiracy of his faction, which had murdered the King, though he kept himself under cover, and pushed Bothwell forward, as his cat’s-paw. 

– Life of Mary, pp.155-184.

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What corruption! But, what did Murray care, for the King’s murder, having been himself a latent conspirator, who made use of Bothwell, as his cat’s-paw?  

His next exploit was the obtaining of Dunbar castle, in which he was aided by Morton. He obtained this strong fortress on the 30th of September, [1567,] on terms of surrender, which were granted to the laird of Whitlaw, the governor. The terms were violated; and the governor was prosecuted, as a rebel, at the instigation of Morton, who obtained a gift of his escheat. Whitlaw was neither guilty, nor suspected of any concern, in Darnley’s murder: But, he was prosecuted, under an illegal denunciation of the insurgent nobles, who were guilty, that whoever would not join them, should be deemed guilty of the king’s murder: But, who empowered rebels to make such a law? was such a proclamation binding on any one, after the re-establishment of something like a regular government. Yet, was Whitlaw pursued to a forfeiture, by Morton, who obtained his escheat, and who owed him a grudge for marrying the widow of his elder brother. Such was the violence of Murray’s government, as regent; evincing, that usurpation ends, generally, in tyranny. 

– Life of Mary, pp.184-206.

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Sep. 30 [1579]. – The boy-king came from Stirling attended by about two thousand men on horseback, and received an enthusiastic reception from the citizens of Edinburgh. 

– Domestic Annals, pp.81-98.

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During the year 1584, when the Earl of Arran was Provost of the city, on the 30th September, the Council commissioned Michael Chisholm and others to inquire into the order and condition of an ancient leper hospital which stood beside Dingwall’s Castle; but of the former no distinct trace is given in Gordon’s view. 

– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.340-348.

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ALEXANDER CAMPBELL THE LARD OF CALDER

HIS PURSMAISTERIS COMPT.

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The last of September being Fuiresday.

   Item giffin for ane new skabart to your heland sowrd cutting and dressing and ane new fisch handall  

xx s.

   Item for ane new schorne bit to your geldin  

vj s.

   Item to the sowrd-slipperis boy, drink silver  

xij d.

   Item to John Londie playar on the lut  

vj s. viij d.

– Sketches, Appendix VIII.

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ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL of Lorne to GLENURCHY.

To my lowing foster-father and respected freind the Lard of

Glenvrquhey, thes.

     LOUING FREIND, – Louing foster-father, I thoght good to wryt thir few lyns to yow to shaw yow that I am in good health and am vearie sorie that ye wryt not for me, and I long weri much to sie yow; and as ye wold wis me to be weil and to come to yow, send to me in all the heast and diligence ye can, Duncan Archibald and tuey horse with him, on to Mr Johen and on for my cariage; and prays and requests yow to send them in all the heast ye can,and I wil looke for them that they may be heir a Fryday or at the fardest at Setterday at night; and take it not in anay vncounes that I send not back the ansuere of the letter that I got in Edinbruch. I could not stay because I was in heast; and bring my commendations to your shelf and to yowr wyf, and houpes that I wil seie yow my shelf shortlie, if ye doe yowr deutie, not duting but ye wildoe the same, comiting yow to Gods protection for euer. So I rest, yours at power, 

ARCHIBALD LORD OF LORNE. 

     Wryten at Inderaray, 

the thretie day of September [1633]. 

– Sketches, pp.341-394.

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The spelling of the letters is obsolete; they give a curious picture of the times, and they are well worth perusal, but the reason of the correspondence is what concerns me. Argyle and his wife Margaret Douglas are anxious that their son Lorne should have a thorough knowledge of what they called “Erise,” which Irish and Scotch Gael call Gaelic; and they send the young chief of the Clan Campbell to his relative to Balloch, now Taymouth, where his foster father, writing of his tutor, considers it – “requisit he be ane disceite man that is ane scollar, and that can speik both Inglis and Erise, quharof I think thair may be had in Argyll,” 

Accordingly, Lorne and Maister Jhone Makleine set off with “Duncan Archibald, and tuey horse with him, on to Mr Johen, and on for my cariage;” soon after the “thretie day of September [1633]” when “Archibald Campbell of Lorne” wrote to his “louing foster-father” from “Inderaray,” and Mr. Johen having misbehaved himself, some one else was procured to superintend his studies. His mother, Margaret Douglas, writes… – “I heair my sone begines to wearye of the Irishe langwadge. I entreat yow to cause holde hime to the speakeing of itt, for since he has bestowed so long tyme and paines in the getting of itt, I sould be sory he lost it now with leasines in not speaking of it.” 

– Popular Tales, Volume 4, pp.53-75.

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In 1645 they showed a want of discretion when, on the victory of Montrose at Kilsyth, the magistrates then in office gave expression to their sympathies with what they thought to be the winning side by inviting the marquis to Glasgow and entertaining him sumptuously. But they speedily paid the penalty of their indiscretion, for in the following month, Leslie having gained the battle of Philiphaugh, his first act was to lay Glasgow under a heavy contribution, which he jeeringly told the magistrates was to pay the interest of the money they had expended in entertaining Montrose. And this was not the only penalty they had to suffer, for when the magistrates came to be elected immediately afterwards the Committee of Estates of parliament interfered and insisted on the exclusion from office of all those who had been “actours in the capitulatioune with James Grahame.”¹

– Old Glasgow, 215-237.

¹  Minute of Council, 30th Sept. 1645.

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“Last [day of] September, 1652. Twa Englisches, for drinking the King’s health, were takin and bund at Edinburgh croce, quhair either of thame resavit thretty-nine quhipes on thair naiked bakes and shoulderis; thairafter their lugs were naillit to the gallows. The ane had his lug cuttit from the ruitt with a razor, the uther being also naillit to the gibbet had his mouth skobit, and his tong being drawn out the full length, was bound together betwixt twa sticks, hard togedder, with an skainzie-thrid, for the space of half one hour thereby.” Punishments of this cruel kind were characteristic of the times, and were not peculiar to the Scottish capital alone. 

– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.148-157.

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That during the continuance of the duties payable in England on coals, culm, and cinders, which determines the 30th day of September 1710, Scotland shall not be charged therewith for coals, culm and cinders consumed there, but shall be charged with the same duties as in England, for all coals, culm, and cinders not consumed in Scotland. 

– How Scotland Lost Her Parliament, Appendix – Note A. 

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Prior to the Carmichaels of Hyndford it had been, for a time, the residence of the Earls of Stirling, the first of whom ruined himself in the colonisation of Nova Scotia, for which place he set sail with fourteen ships filled with emigrants and cattle in 1630. Here then, in this now humble but once most picturesque locality – for the house was singularly so, with its overhanging timber gables, its small court and garden sloping to the south – lived John third Earl of Hyndford, the living representative of a long line of warlike ancestors, including Sir John Carmichael of that ilk, who broke a spear with the Duke of Clarence at the battle of Bauge-en-Anjou, when the Scots routed the English, the Duke was slain, and Carmichael had added to his paternal arms a dexter hand and arm, holding a broken spear. 

In 1732 he was Lieutenant-Colonel of a company in the Scots Foot Guards, and was twice commissioner to the General Assembly before 1740, and was Lord of Police in Scotland. In the following year, when Frederick the Great invaded Silesia, he was sent as plenipotentiary extraordinary to adjust the differences that occasioned the war, and at the conclusion of the Treaty of Breslau had the Order of the Thistle conferred upon him by George II., receiving at the same time a grant from Frederick, dated at Berlin, 30th September, 1742, for adding the eagle of Silesia to his paternal arms of Hyndford, with the motto Ex bene merito. He was six years an ambassador at the Russian Court, and it was by his able negociations that 30,000 Muscovite troops contributed to accelerate the peace which was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.274-282.

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2400. Glasgow Journal. 23 to 30 September, 1745.

An Account of the Battle of Prestonpans is printed in this number. 

– Memorial Catalogue, Gallery 1.

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This payment [of fees to the lord provost] continued to be made down to the passing of the first reform act, when it was abolished. The last payment to the provost was made on the 30th of September, 1833.

– Old Glasgow, pp.215-237.

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“THE SCOTTISH HOME RULE ASSOCIATION.

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   The Chairman said they had every reason to congratulate themselves upon the success of their movement since the conference last year. Practically the battle was won. The Liberal Associations all over the country were now making Home Rule for Scotland one of the planks of their programme, and at the great national federation of Liberal Associations, Mr Gladstone stated that in next Parliament one of the important matters would be to arrange legislation to give Home Rule to Scotland and Wales. Then, in the division in the House of Commons they had an absolute majority in favour of Home Rule for Scotland, only three Liberal members voting against it. The present Tory Lord-Advocate would not have spoken of taking ‘a step backwards towards the darkness from which the country was withdrawn at the Union’ if he had read Sir Archibald Alison’s proofs that Scotland owes much both of her prosperity and her general advancement to the wise legislation of her own Parliament. Dr Clark quoted from the writings of Alison to show the excellent legislation which the Scotch Parliament passed before the Union. He repeated that if the Lord-Advocate had read the history of the country, he would not misrepresent her nor slander his race. Then they had been successful in elections, except that of the Ayr burghs. The seat was lost to the Liberal party because the candidate was an Englishman, who did not support Home Rule for Scotland. Finally, the chairman said that Scotch Home Rule was like the Scottish character – quiet on the surface, but strong, deep, and determined. (Applause.)

   The minutes of last conference were read and adopted. Mr Waddie read the annual report, which stated that Home Rule on a Federal basis was rapidly making way. Mr Mitchell, treasurer, made an appeal for more funds, on the ground that if they got Home Rule it would be a saving to Scotland of from eight to ten millions a year. He also suggested that there should be an honorary treasurer in every county to help him to collect subscriptions.”

– Northern Ensign and Weekly Gazette, Tuesday 30th September, 1890.

– Treaty of Union Articles, Collection of Charles Waddie.